The BFI is backing a campaign that is attempting to end use of scars for short hand villainy.

According to the Telegraph, The changing faces campaign ” calls on those in the film industry – casting directors, film producers, production companies and directors – to stop using scars, burns or marks as shorthand for villainy.” ,to which the BFI is supporting.

Changing Faces group have set out to de-stigmatise facial scars on screen often seen on villains – Eg. Joker, Darth Vader…

Ben Roberts, film fund director at the BFI, said in a statement: “Film has such a powerful influence on society … [and] also is a catalyst for change and that is why we are committing to not having negative representations depicted through scars or facial difference in the films we fund … This campaign speaks directly to the criteria in the BFI Diversity Standards which call for meaningful representations on screen … and [we] urge the rest of the film industry to do the same.”

Earlier this year, Changing Faces chief executive Becky Hewitt said that “It’s particularly worrying to see that young people don’t tend to make this association, until they are exposed to films that influence their attitudes towards disfigurement in a profoundly negative way.”

Changing Faces have teamed up with production company Stories Like Us, and created a short about the impact of always seeing scars or burns used to portray a ‘villain’, see below:

Further to BFI stopping the funding with facial scarred villains, it is also attempting to redirect conversation by financing the film Dirty God. This drama, set to premiere at Sundance in the new year, stars Vicky Knight as a survivor of an acid attack.